My giant quiche began with a packet of broken shortcrust pastry.

I had too much silverbeet growing, family were coming over and the pastry was in no condition to produce the neat little quiche I might originally have imagined.

So, I hodgepodged the broken pieces together inside a springform cake tin—the deep one with the removable base and clasp around the side. I pressed the cracks together, built the pastry higher up the tin and filled the whole thing with eggs, silverbeet, cheese and a little meat for my husband.

The giant quiche was born.

My husband maintains that he doesn’t like quiche. This quiche, however, he liked. Apparently, making it much larger and adding meat successfully moved it into an entirely different food category.

It has since become one of my favourite ways to use an abundance of winter greens and feed several people at once.

It isn’t delicate. It doesn’t require immaculate pastry. It is a substantial, deep-dish quiche that can be adapted to whatever is growing in the garden and whatever needs using in the fridge.

Giant Silverbeet Quiche

Serves: 8–10
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: Approximately 65–75 minutes
Tin: 22–24cm springform cake tin

Ingredients

For the pastry case

• 500–600g shortcrust pastry or 3–4 ready-rolled pastry sheets
• A little butter or oil for greasing
• 1 tablespoon plain flour or dry breadcrumbs, optional

For the filling

• 1 large bunch silverbeet, approximately 500–600g before trimming
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 200g bacon, ham, chorizo or cooked sausage, chopped
• 8 large eggs
• 300ml milk
• 150ml cream
• 150g grated cheddar, tasty cheese or Gruyère
• 50g Parmesan, crumbled feta or additional grated cheese
• ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper
• A pinch of nutmeg, optional

Method

1. Heat the oven to 190°C conventional or 170°C fan-forced. Lightly grease a 22–24cm springform cake tin and line the base with baking paper.
2. Press the shortcrust pastry across the base and approximately 6–7cm up the sides of the tin. If the pastry is broken, overlap the pieces slightly and press the joins firmly together with your fingers. Patch any thin spots with additional pastry.
3. Refrigerate the lined tin for 20 minutes to firm the pastry.
4. Line the pastry case with baking paper and fill it with baking weights, dried rice or dried beans. Blind bake for 15 minutes.
5. Carefully remove the paper and weights, then bake the uncovered pastry case for another 8–10 minutes, or until it looks dry and lightly golden. If you notice any small cracks, patch them with a scrap of raw pastry before adding the filling.
6. While the pastry cooks, wash the silverbeet thoroughly. Separate the stalks from the leaves, finely chop the stalks and roughly shred the leaves.
7. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan. Cook the onion and silverbeet stalks for 5–7 minutes, or until softened.
8. Add the garlic and your chosen meat. Cook until the meat is browned or heated through, as appropriate.
9. Add the shredded silverbeet leaves in batches. Cook until completely wilted and most of the released moisture has evaporated.
10. Transfer the mixture to a colander and allow it to cool slightly. Press out any excess liquid. This is important: overly wet silverbeet can leave the quiche watery and prevent the filling from setting properly.
11. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, cream, grated cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg.
12. Sprinkle the tablespoon of flour or breadcrumbs over the pastry base, if using. This can help absorb any remaining moisture from the greens.
13. Spread the cooled silverbeet mixture evenly inside the pastry case. Pour the egg mixture over it, stopping just below the top of the pastry.
14. Scatter the Parmesan, feta or remaining cheese over the top.
15. Carefully place the quiche in the oven and bake for 50–60 minutes. It is ready when the top is golden and the centre is just set with a slight wobble.
16. If the pastry edges brown too quickly, loosely cover them with foil while the filling finishes cooking.
17. Leave the quiche in its tin for at least 20 minutes before releasing the clasp. For the neatest slices, let it cool a little longer before cutting.

The Pastry Does Not Need to Be Perfect

This recipe exists because my pastry was already broken.

A springform cake tin is ideal because the high sides turn the quiche into a substantial centrepiece and the clasp makes it easier to remove once it has cooled.

Overlap broken pieces, press the joins together and patch any gaps. You are building a pastry case, not auditioning for a patisserie.

Ready-rolled pastry, homemade shortcrust or scraps left from another recipe can all work. If using several scraps, keep the pastry thickness reasonably even so that the base cooks at the same rate.

Place the springform tin on a baking tray if you are concerned about butter or filling escaping through the join.

Preventing a Watery Silverbeet Quiche

Silverbeet contains a surprising amount of water.

Cook it before adding it to the filling and continue cooking until the liquid in the pan has mostly evaporated. Draining and pressing the cooked greens removes even more moisture.

Allow the filling to cool slightly before combining it with the egg mixture. Adding steaming vegetables directly to the eggs can begin cooking them before the quiche reaches the oven.

The small amount of flour or breadcrumbs sprinkled over the pastry base is optional, but it provides a little extra protection against sogginess.

Use Whatever Winter Greens You Have

Silverbeet inspired the original, but the giant quiche works with many leafy vegetables.

Try:

• spinach;
• kale;
• beetroot leaves;
• mustard greens;
• broccoli leaves;
• sorrel;
• leeks;
• or a mixture of several winter greens.

Tougher greens such as kale need longer cooking than spinach. Sorrel has a sharper flavour, so I would combine it with milder greens rather than using it for the entire filling.

The best mixture is often whatever is ready in the garden on the same day.

Make It With—or Without—Meat

For my husband, the addition of meat was apparently essential to the quiche’s success.

You could use:

• bacon;
• ham;
• chorizo;
• cooked sausage;
• shredded roast chicken;
• smoked salmon; or
• leftover roast meat.

However, the quiche works perfectly well without meat. For a vegetarian version, add sautéed mushrooms, roasted pumpkin, caramelised onion, cannellini beans or extra cheese.

It is less a strict recipe and more a reliable structure:

pastry + eggs + cheese + cooked greens + whatever else needs using.

Other Filling Ideas

Once you have the basic egg mixture, you can adapt the giant quiche throughout the year.

Try combinations such as:

• silverbeet, bacon and cheddar;
• kale, chorizo and feta;
• spinach, mushroom and Gruyère;
• leek, ham and tasty cheese;
• roasted pumpkin, sage and feta;
• broccoli, chicken and cheddar; or
• mixed garden greens with caramelised onion.

Avoid adding too many watery ingredients. Cook mushrooms, zucchini and leafy greens first so their moisture ends up in the frying pan rather than inside the quiche.

What to Serve With Giant Quiche

Because this is considerably more substantial than an ordinary quiche, it doesn’t need much beside it.

Serve it with:

• a leafy salad;
• roasted vegetables;
• tomato relish;
• pickles;
• soup;
• or simply sliced tomatoes when they are in season.

It is equally good served warm for dinner, at room temperature for lunch or packed for a picnic.

Storing and Reheating

Store leftover quiche in a covered container in the fridge for up to three days.

Reheat individual slices in the oven or air fryer until hot throughout. The microwave works too, although the pastry will be softer.

The cooked quiche can also be frozen. Wrap individual slices well and freeze them for up to two months. Defrost overnight in the fridge before reheating.

When an Accident Becomes a Recipe

This giant quiche was never carefully planned.

It was created because I had broken pastry, too much silverbeet and family arriving. I used the tin that would contain everything, patched the pastry together and made the filling substantial enough to feed everyone.

That is often how the most useful family recipes begin.

The giant quiche now appears whenever the garden produces more leafy greens than we can sensibly eat as a side dish. Any combination works, the pastry doesn’t need to be pretty and meat can be added for those who remain suspicious of quiche on principle.

Most importantly, it feeds a crowd—and even my husband eats it.

For another simple way to use winter greens, try my Kale and Garlic Pasta or read One Month of Winter to Go: What I’m Doing in My Frost-Prone Garden.